L and C

Landon and Cody

All through my pregnancy, Landon was always the one who would ask how I was doing.  He was also the one who asked almost daily how much longer it would be until Cody was born.

Landon has a heart of gold and it was the hardest on him when we were gone for 2 weeks at the hospital.

He adores his baby brother and loves holding him

Cody has Landon's little sweet lips!   Landon always puckered his lips up, too!

Oldest - Youngest

Our oldest - Our youngest

a decade apart and already inseparable 

While Cody was in the hospital, Wyatt was always asking how he was doing..   And he still does.  He'll come home from school and find Cody right away and then ask if he's doing fine.

After Cody was born, Wyatt was the first one who I thought Cody looked like.

A favorite thing of Wyatt's to do is hold Cody while watching a baseball game.

Our oldest - Our youngest

Blessed!

g'parents

Grandma B and Cody

Grandpa B and Cody

Grandpa Richard and Cody

Grandma Tamma and Cody

Great Grandma B and Cody

Pictures of Cody with his other three great grandparents coming soon!

me and my babe

I love this baby boy so much!

kroundup

Seriously..  where did the last 5 year go?  Is this cutie really going to be starting Kindergarten in August?   Audrey loved loved loved Kroundup and is really excited to start Kindergarten!

after her big day at roundup, Audrey's Preschool graduation was in the evening

Way to go, Miss girl!

Welcoming Committee

LOVED the boys' reactions when they saw Cody for the first time!

(Landon was trying to hide from the camera)

First family photo of the six of us

Wyatt (10) and Cody (14 days)

Landon (7) and Cody (14 days)

Audrey (5) and Cody (14 days)

Welcome Home sweet baby boy!

14 days later

 This sweet face, not needing any tubes for 24 hours and doing great, means...........

It means this...    :)

WooHoo!!!

Bay #4!!

Bay 4 was music to our ears!  While babies will occasionally be discharged from Bay 2 or 3, they are usually sent to Bay 4 or Bay 5 right before being discharged.  Here, the nurses do the discharge teaching and information and get parents ready to GO HOME!

We were pumped Bay 4 was in the day's plans for Cody!

Aaaand --- we got a window in Bay 4...  and a TV...  and our own bathroom... and a couch!  

Exciting stuff!

NICU nurses are amazing!  One morning when we got to Cody's room in Bay 1, one of our favorite nurses of Cody's had made him some signage overnight  :)

Cuddles

Once we were finally able to hold our baby again, we did A LOT of cuddling!

Herky

There's a story behind this black and gold blanket!  Cody had a.m.a.z.i.n.g nurses while in Iowa City and most of them knew we are ISU fans (aka.. not Hawkeye fans).  One of our absolute favorite nurses, her name is Myrna, decided to have some fun with us and found a Hawkeye blanket for Cody to snuggle under  :)  We thought it was hilarious and she even suggested we take a picture to show our Cy-loving kiddos back home.  We just love Myrna!

Our yellow, jaundice baby in his yellow and black blanket  :)

Needed

The first weekend Cody was in Iowa City, we (the kids and us) were all needing to be together!  So Mom and Dad brought the kiddos to IC to stay with us in a hotel.  It was so great to be with these three crazies again!

A few days later, D and I headed home so we could take Audrey to Kindergarten Roundup the next morning.. however, because of a late Spring snowstorm, school was cancelled so we ended up getting to spend most of the day home with all three kiddos before heading back to IC late afternoon.

I should have taken a pic of the snow at our house... it was at least a foot when we left home.  Thankfully the roads were only wet so we could get back to Cody.

Bay #1

Shortly after Cody was taken to the NICU for his breathing issues, his left lung collapsed.  After "needling" him and that not working, they had to put in a chest tube.  While the chest tube helped his lung re-inflate, Cody still wasn't able to control his breathing and keep his oxygen saturation up.

Cody's NICU doctor made the decision to send him to Iowa City before he got worse.  He was taken by ambulance around noon on Tuesday, April 23.  They wanted to take him by helicopter but the weather wasn't cooperating.

Here is Cody in his Bay 1 NICU room in Iowa City.  Bay 1 is for the 12 sickest babies that the University of Iowa Hospital has in their care.  And for such a huge hospital, that really hit me hard knowing that my baby was one of the 12 sickest in the whole hospital.  :(

The machine on the right-hand side of the photo, with the red numbers, is the machine that saved Cody's life.  I was constantly amazed at how many machines it took to keep such a tiny person alive.

This is around Day #8.  Nurse Myrna was giving him a break from his goggles and earmuffs.  Cody was still very swollen from being so still for so long.

The dressing on Cody's side is from where the chest tube was inserted. 

We did A LOT of this -- just standing and watching Cody.

It was a fun day when Cody got promoted to a crib instead of the warmer bed!

Cody's Birthday

We got to the hospital around 6:30pm with contractions about 4 minutes apart.

In labor and feeling good after an epidural

At 4:15am Cody William was born crying with healthy lungs.

Snuggles!

 First bath

8 hours after being born, shortly after his bath, Cody was taken to the NICU for observation..  little did we know what the next 2 weeks (especially the next 24 hours) would have in store for this sweet baby boy.